Korea

  • Eclipses- Historical Harbingers

    If you’ve been anywhere near the news, you would have seen that a solar eclipse happened in the continental United States yesterday.  I have to admit it was a pretty amazing experience as I was lucky enough to be in the path of totality.  As the sky went dark and the crickets started chirping, I thought about what it must have been like for those in the past.  They didn’t have the benefit of NASA and other scientists telling us that this was normal, the Sun would come back and to wear protective glasses.  How did people through the ages deal with eclipses? One of the first references we have…

  • Prince Sado of Korea – The Coffin King

    There have been many stories of insanity in European royal families. Some even, unfairly or not, have gotten the sobriquet of “the Mad”.  However, European royalty did not corner the market on insane family members.  This example comes to us from the Korea’s Cho’son dynasty, which had ruled Korea since 1392.   Prince Sado was the crown prince, who was born February 13, 1735, as the second son of King Yeongjo with his favorite concubine.  Sado was the second son of King Yeongjo and only surviving male heir as his older brother tragically died at age 9.  There was great rejoicing at the birth of a healthy son.  However, Sado’s…

  • Yu Gwan-sun-  Korea’s Joan of Arc

    In 1904, Korea allied with Japan during the first Russo-Japanese war and lent its territory for Japan’s military operations.  This was only a stepping stone to the Japanese occupation of Korea.  They came and never left.  This was the government’s plan to make Japan a world power.  Tough luck for anyone in Korea that wasn’t fine with this plan. On March 1, 1919, the Korean independence movement began.  The so called March 1st Movement started with demonstrations mainly made up of students and Christians as all other political groups had been disbanded by the Japanese government.  The rebels created a Declaration of Independence, which was signed by thirty-three representatives.  Then…